The College Years
by chelseabsb93
Summary: This four-shot takes place during the Stanton crew's freshman year of college. Where will they end up? What will they major in? How will they handle the college experience?
1. Chapter 1

"Mom, I'll be fine." Lilette smiled and rolled her eyes, reassuring her mother.

"I know. You've always been the independent one. And I know I've left you alone before, which I apologize for by the way." Ms. Suarez sighed after, truly feeling sorry that she put her daughter through that a few years ago. She continued. "But this is the first time you'll be alone in a whole new big city!"

The mother-daughter duo continued to walk down the large sidewalk, each carrying boxes of stuff.

"But like you said, you raised me to be independent." Lilette looked up toward one of the buildings up ahead. "Founders Hall...this is me."

The two walked into the courtyard of the building and got in line to check in. After a few minutes, Lilette and her mom were standing in front of a table being run by a very bubbly girl.

"Hey girl! Welcome to Founders Hall. What's your name?"

"Lilette Suarez." Lilette replied.

"Saurez...Saurez..." The girl went through the list on her clip board. "Aha, right here. Lilette Saurez, room 216. If you need help finding it Trevor can show you the way." The girl pointed to another bubbly kid standing by the front door. "Here is your key."

Lilette took the key from the girl and headed inside, followed quickly behind by her mom.

The two got to her room and began unpacking when the other girl she was rooming with showed up.

"You must be Lilette. I'm Nicole, but everyone calls me Nicki." The girl smiled and extended her hand.

"Nice to meet you." Lilette shook her hand and then introduced her mom.

"You guys look like sisters!" Nicki gushed.

Lilette and Ms. Suarez just looked at each other and giggled. Not only did they look like sisters, but most of the time they acted more like sisters than they did mother and daughter.

After helping the girls unpack, Ms. Suarez treated them to dinner.

"Thank you so much Ms. Saurez!" Nicki said as they walked back to the dorm after dinner.

"Don't mention it. You just keep my favorite little girl happy and out of trouble!" Ms. Suarez replied, following the girls up to their room.

Nicki walked in to their room, but Lilette stayed just outside with her mother.

"Thank you mom. Not just for today...for everything."

"Oh don't go getting all sappy on me. You're going to make me cry." Ms. Suarez wrapped her arms around her daughter. Lilette returned the embrace.

"I'm going to miss you!" Lilette started to tear up.

"Gonna miss you too, peanut" Ms. Saurez gave Lilette one last big squeeze before letting go. She then grabbed Lilette's shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. "Now go kick some New York City ass!"

The pair shared one last quick hug before Ms. Suarez headed back down the hall toward the elevator. Before walking into her room, Lilette heard her mom down the hall, "Call me after orientation tomorrow!"

Lilette smiled as she entered her room. She flopped onto her bed, content with the day she had and excited for the year ahead.

* * *

 _ **A/N =**_ Hey guys! So after seeing the amazing season (still holding out hope that its not series) finale I wanted to write a fanfic for the show. I decided to do college because I felt like other people would jump right into a season 2 and do it much better than I could, plus I had this idea in my head since the finale. Let me know what you guys think. And don't mind it being short. The next chapter or two will be much longer!


	2. Chapter 2

Lilette and Nicki woke up the next morning and grabbed some breakfast before going to Freshman Orientation.

"Ok those breakfast sandwiches were way better than the ones we have back home!" Lilette exclaimed as the girls walked down the sidewalk.

"That's because they were made with New York bagels." Nicki replied, also thinking about how good they were. "New York City is known for their amazing bagels."

The two girls continued walking until they caught up with a small group of boys who looked like they were also headed to orientation. When Lilette got a closer look, she noticed one of the boys looked very familiar.

"Michael?" Lilette called out.

The boy turned around. He thought the voice sounded familiar. "Lilette?"

With the initial shock quickly fading, the two immediately hugged.

"What are you doing here?!" Lilette asked, still very surprised to see him.

"Oh, you know, just trying to become New York's newest lawyer." Michael laughed a little. "I'm majoring in pre-law. I want to be able to help people whose rights and privileges are always being taken away, specifically the LGBT community. What about you?"

"Awe. Michael, I think that's great! And I'm majoring in theatre." Lilette replied and then asked, "What about Sasha? Is she here with you?"

"Of course you are. Next to Simon and Gwen you were Stanton's little star." Michael poked fun at Lilette. "And unfortunately no. I wish she could've come but it would've been impossible with Maggie. And she got enough scholarships to completely pay for community college, so she's doing that and then going to Penn State."

"That's awesome! How old is Maggie now? I haven't seen you guys since her baby shower, but I've been trying to keep up on Facebook. And speaking of Simon and Gwen, how are they doing?" Lilette bombarded Michael with questions. She felt guilty for not keeping up with her friends the way she should have.

"What is this, 20 questions?" Michael joked. "I'm kidding. Maggie is a year and a half. She'll be two in February. And I'm sure you've seen on Facebook that Gwen and Gordy are still together. They are doing a sort of long distance thing as well. Gwen is at Penn State and Gordy is at community college with Sasha. As for Simon and Jeremy, they are also still together. Jeremy went to California for film school, and if I'm remembering correctly..."

Michael trailed off and nodded toward a kid up ahead. He called out, "Hey Simon!"

The young man turned around and smiled, knowing exactly who called him. He lightly jogged over to the small group.

"Hey Michael!" Simon hugged Michael. As he did, he noticed a familiar face off to his side. "LILETTE!"

"SIMON!" Lilette wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could. She loved having her best friend back in her life.

"I can't believe you're here! What are you doing here?" Simon asked excitedly.

"Same as you it looks like. My new roommate Nicki and I are headed to orientation." Lilette said before stopping for a moment. She realized something. "Crap! Nicki I'm so sorry. Everyone this is Nicki."

"Hey guys." Nicki replied. "And Lilette don't worry. You're just excited to see your friends again."

The small group continued down the sidewalk until they got to the area in Central Park listed on the Orientation map.

"Look at all these kids!" Lilette said what the group was thinking. Along with themselves there looked to be another 500 freshman standing around socializing.

As they walked around looking for somewhere to sign in, they found another familiar face.

"Jolene!" Michael, Lilette, and Simon all screamed at once.

"Hey guys!" Jolene walked over to the group. "OMG LILETTE!"

Lilette hugged her old friend. "I missed you! What have you been up to? What brings you to NYU?"

"Theatre, duh!" Jolene jokingly flipped her hair, pretending to be conceited.

"Me too!" Lilette said excitedly.

"Well then I guess you'll be coming with me to auditions this afternoon after orientation." Jolene said, then got the attention of the whole group. "Come on guys, sign in is this way."

All the kids signed in with the upperclassmen Orientation leaders and got broken up into groups to do fun "get to know each other" exercises. These included a treasure hunt around Central Park for NYU swag, trivia games about pop culture and New York City (the Stanton crew excelled at any question Broadway related), games in the style of the show "Minute to Win It," and once the groups came back together, they did a flash-mob style dance to the Cupid Shuffle. The kids all felt a little childish and stupid by the end of the day, but the activities served their purpose. Whether the new students became instant best friends or not, they could at least all get along and tolerate each other, which is all the orientation leaders cared about. After all the fun activities, the students were also told a little history about the school, as well as given a more in depth tour.

Since Lilette and Jolene got put into different groups, Jolene texted Lilette the address and directions to get to the theatre.

As she walked, Lilette listened to her audition song. She had it down completely, but she wondered if it was good enough. She had aced all of her auditions in high school, but this was different. This was the big leagues. She didn't have a plan B. Her whole life was theatre. She figured maybe she should take the rest of this walk to create that plan B, just in case things didn't go well.


	3. Chapter 3

Since Lilette was still getting used to the spread out campus in the big city, she walked into the theatre to see that auditions had already begun. She snuck down the aisle and sat in the seat Jolene was saving for her.

"Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" Lilette asked.

Jolene leaned over and whispered as to not interrupt the student singing on stage. "Not much. You only missed the first couple kids. Neither one of us has been called yet."

"Thank goodness." Lilette was able to relax into her seat a little bit. It was then she heard a familiar song.

"All that's known, in history and science / Overthrown, at school at home by blind men! You doubt them, and soon they bark and hound you / Til everything you say is just another bad about you."

Spring Awakening: Lilette's first show; her first audition; her first lead role. It was this show that made her fall in love with theatre, and also where she experienced her first love. The voice singing the song brought her back to that time, so she looked up from her orientation packet to see who it was. Her mouth gaped open when she saw the young man singing his heart out onstage. She lightly slapped Jolene to get her attention, just to see if she was seeing what she was seeing.

Jolene's eyes widened and she had the same gaping expression as she heard the young man singing.

" _All they say, is trust in what is written  
Wars are made and somehow that is wisdom  
Thought is suspect, and money is there idol  
And nothing is ok unless it's scripted in their bible_"

Lilette and Jolene's eyes went from looking at the stage to looking at each other.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Jolene asked, very shocked.

"You didn't know? You guys graduated together!" Lilette assumed that just like in her graduating class, everyone knew what colleges everyone else was going to.

"He got accepted to three different top schools and never told anyone which one he chose!" Jolene whisper yelled.

The two girls went back to watching the young man singing. They would just have to question him about it after auditions.

" _But I know there's so much more to find  
Just in looking though myself and not at them  
Still I know to trust my own true mind  
And to say there's a way through this.  
On I go, to wonder and to learning  
Name the stars and know their dark returning  
I'm calling, to know the world's true yearning  
The hunger that a child feels for everything they're shown  
You watch me, just watch me  
I'm calling and one day all will know  
You watch me, just watch me!  
I'm calling, and one day all will know!_"

The man stopped singing and heard a small round of applause. He looked down at the director of the theatre program, who was sitting in the front row.

"Thank you Mr. Thorne." The director replied in a monotone voice, not letting on if Robbie made it or not.

"Thank you for your time." Robbie replied before walking off stage and retaking his seat. He didn't see either Lilette or Jolene, but they definitely saw him.

Lilette continued to stare at Robbie, who was seated about a dozen rows in front of her. He was chatting up the kids next to him as well as watching the next couple of performers, including Jolene, who used her namesake song by Dolly Parton to audition with. Jolene came off stage and Robbie's eyes followed her, happy to see a familiar face. It was then that he locked eyes with the girl sitting next to Jolene. It was the girl he considered to be his first true love.

As the two stared at each other, a thousand memories came flooding back, and the two got lost in their own little world. The two got so lost in each other that Lilette didn't notice that her name had been called.

"Lilette Suarez!" The director yelled out into the crowd.

Jolene smacked Lilette to get her attention.

Lilette stood up and yelled down to the director. "I'm here!"

"You're up!" The director replied, pointing toward the stage.

As she walked down to the stage, she passed by Robbie's row. She could tell that he was still staring at her. She couldn't let it get to her, but it was too late. The lyrics to her audition song were only coming in bits and pieces. She was so confident this morning. Why did he have to show up and ruin everything? There was one song that was still playing in her head though. It was a random song from the movie her and Nicki had watched before going to bed the night before, but for now it was better than nothing. Lilette stood in the center of the stage, cleared her throat, and began singing, hoping the improvised song would work.

" _I've been staring at the edge of the water  
Long as I can remember, never really knowing why  
I wish I could be the perfect daughter  
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try.  
Every turn I take, every trail I track  
Every path I make, every road leads back  
To the place I know where I cannot go  
Where I long to be._"

Jolene looked up at Lilette and smiled. They had talked earlier about what audition songs they chose and Jolene knew this wasn't Lilette's. However she liked this song much better. It suited her. She continued to listen to her friend sing.

" _See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me  
And no one knows, how far it goes  
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me  
One day I'll know  
If I go there's just no telling how far I'll go  
I know everybody on this island seems so happy, on this island  
Everything is by design  
I know everybody on this island has a role, on this island  
So maybe I can roll with mine  
I can lead with pride, I can make us strong  
I'll be satisfied if I play along  
But the voice inside sings a different song  
What is wrong with me?_"

Lilette looked down to where Robbie was sitting. His gaze hadn't left her for a moment, and he smiled as he heard the song. She blushed a little, and that look gave her the courage to belt out the rest of the song.

" _See the light as it shines on the sea? It's blinding  
But no one knows, how deep it goes  
And it seems like it's calling out to me, so come find me  
And let me know  
What's beyond that line, will I cross that line?  
See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me  
And no one knows, how far it goes  
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me  
One day I'll know  
How far I'll go_"

Once again, as with the other students, Lilette received a round of applause. She thanked the director for his time and then made her way off stage. Though she didn't go with her original song, she felt the improvised song worked in her favor. She definitely felt that she nailed that audition.

After the rest of the students went the director stood on stage and thanked all of them. He said they would each be getting emailed by the end of the night to tell them if they had been accepted into the program or not. All the students got up and walked out of the theatre. Since Jolene and Lilette were sitting toward the back, they got to the lobby first. They decided to wait for Robbie.

* * *

 _ **A/N =**_ Alright, so I decided to turn my 3-shot into a 4-shot! Chapter 3 got a little long so I broke it up into two, but as a Memorial Day treat, you guys might just get both chapters today! Did you like the songs that Robbie, Jolene, and Lilette used? Are you ready for the confrontation between Lilette and Robbie? Let me know in the reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

Robbie walked out with two other students before leaving them to join his old friends. "I'll catch you guys later." He said as the boys walked away.

Lilette was still dumbfounded. Out of all the colleges in the whole world, Robbie Thorne ended up at the same one as her.

"Hey Jolene." Robbie said nonchalantly.

"Hey Robbie." Jolene replied, still surprised to see him.

"What are you doing here?" Lilette asked, in a slightly snarky tone. They hadn't spoken in over a year and now all of a sudden they are at the same school.

"I decided to come to NYU to double major in Sports Management and Theatre. All three of my top schools allowed me to do that, but NYU was the only one that gave me a chance to see you. When I heard you were coming to New York, the choice was easy."

"So you don't speak to me for a year and then you decide to stalk me at college!" Lilette replied angrily.

"No…yes…maybe." Robbie couldn't come up with the right answer. "I stopped calling you because it just got to be too hard. Every time we hung up the phone it broke me knowing I couldn't just go to your house and see you. We tried the long distance thing, remember? It didn't work. And from my end I remember I wasn't the only one who you ghosted."

"BECAUSE IT WAS TOO HARD FOR ME TOO!" Lilette yelled, losing her cool. A small tear dripped down her cheek.

Both Robbie and Jolene looked at her with worried eyes.

"I was in a completely new city; new school; new people! I did not know anyone! Yeah you guys were upset too, but you had each other to lean on. I had no one! Every time you came to Philly or I came back to Stanton, it just got too hard to watch my old life that I loved get taken away all over again when it came time for you or me to leave! I knew in order to save my sanity I had to cut off my old life and embrace my new one. So I joined my new school's theatre program and made a couple new friends and tried to be as happy as possible, but something was always missing."

Lilette wiped the tears away from her face. Before she knew it Robbie's arms were around her as tightly as they could be. Jolene was about to make it a group hug, but decided to give them a moment.

"I am so sorry you felt that way." Robbie whispered into her ear, trying to calm the woman he loved…that he was still in love with. "I should have been there more. I shouldn't have given up on us so easily. I shouldn't have let you move so far away. I should've forced my dad to let you stay with me!"

Lilette giggled a little against Robbie's chest. She spoke softly, "You know your dad hated me…and probably still does for breaking his son's heart."

Robbie smiled. "True. He's still not your biggest fan. But that's ok, because I am. And like I said in my audition, I'll trust my own true mind."

Lilette calmed down enough to look up at him. They gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed like a lifetime. The only thing that broke them was an interruption from Jolene.

"So what now?" She asked, concerned for the well-being of both of them. "You guys broke up because of the long distance thing. But from what I can see you guys are no longer long distance, so…?"

Once again, Robbie and Lilette looked at each other. Robbie was the first to speak up.

"This is still real for me. I love you Lilette. I'm willing to try it if you are."

"I love you too." Lilette replied before going in for a kiss. She finally found the thing she had been missing.

"YAY!" Jolene ran over and created a group hug. She didn't care that she interrupted their moment. They had four years to make out as much as they wanted. They could wait five minutes.

The three let go of each other, well except for Robbie and Lilette, who were still holding hands.

Lilette looked up at the clock on the wall and saw how late it was. "Hey, I should probably get back before my roommate thinks I got kidnapped or something."

"I'll walk you!" Robbie jumped at the chance to spend more time with Lilette. "What dorm?"

"I'm in Founders." Lilette replied.

"Hey me too!" Jolene added.

"I guess I'll walk both of you back then!" Robbie escorted both of his friends down the sidewalk.

After walking a few feet, Lilette got an idea. "Hey, why don't you guys come back to my dorm and hang out. Rather than going to get dinner at the dining hall we can order a pizza and watch some movies!"

"Great idea!" Jolene said excitedly. "I'll text Michael and Simon and tell them to meet us there. Actually I think Simon is living there too so I'll see if he's back in his dorm."

The three continued to walk back as Jolene's phone continued buzzing with invite acceptance texts.

"Looks like they're both in. Simon is actually upstairs in his room. Want me to give him your room number?"

"Yeah, tell them both it's 216." Lilette replied as they walked into Founders Hall.

Jolene sent the text as the three took the elevator upstairs. By the time they got to Lilette's room, both Michael and Simon were already waiting outside. When they saw Lilette and Robbie holding hands, they had the same gaping mouth expression that Lilette and Jolene had when they first saw Robbie earlier.

"It's a long story." Both Lilette and Robbie said as Lilette unlocked her door.

When they all walked in they saw Lilette's roommate Nicki dancing to 24K Magic by Bruno Mars. Rather than shutting off the music, the group just joined in. Once Nicki noticed she had company she shut off the music.

"Hey guys." Nicki said to the group, then noticed a new face. "And hello to you too. I'm Nicki."

Robbie smiled and shook her hand. "I'm Robbie."

"He's my boyfriend." Lilette added, smiling.

Nicki was a little shocked. "You get a boyfriend on Day 2 and I can barely get the RD to acknowledge my existence!"

"It's a long story." Lilette and Robbie once again said in unison. They felt like they would be saying that a lot.

"So, Nicki, pizza and movies tonight?" Lilette asked, even though she already invited her friends over.

"I'm down." Nicki replied, grabbing her phone to order the pizza.

Before they knew it the pizza had arrived and they were halfway through "The Hangover." The kids were all laughing and having a good time. Nicki and Jolene were chilling on her bed, Michael and Simon were on the beanbags on the floor, and of course Lilette and Robbie were cuddling on her bed. As the movie ended, Jolene took a quick look around the room and noticed something: Lilette's keyboard.

Jolene ran over to the keyboard and began playing a song. The Stanton crew all gushed when they heard it.

"I know you guys know this…" Jolene began singing the song. "If you're lost and alone, or you're sinking like a stone!"

"CARRY ON!" The Stanton gang, minus Robbie, sung their hearts out.

Lilette glared over at Robbie cutely. "Come on, you know you want to sing it. And this time you don't have to look cool in front of your football buddies."

Robbie rolled his eyes, shook his head, and smiled. His girlfriend was cute when she was trying to be convincing.

"May your past be the sound / Of your feet upon the ground!" Lilette sang along with her friends.

"CARRY ON!" This time Robbie joined in.

The kids continued singing and having a good time when Lilette remembered she told her mother she would call her after orientation. Even though it was late she knew her mom would be up. Instead of calling, Lilette did one better. She grabbed her phone and FaceTimed her mother.

Ms. Suarez picked up the call and smiled when she saw her daughter. Her smile got even bigger when she saw a pile of familiar faces surrounding her daughter. She also saw Nicki was a part of the group, acting as though she had known these kids forever. Seeing Robbie plant a kiss on her daughter's cheek was the icing on the cake. Lilette had told her she was going to be fine, but with this video she finally had her proof. Ms. Suarez could now stop worrying a little. Her little girl would no longer be alone. She had plenty of friends, both old and new, to help create amazing college memories with.

* * *

 ** _A/N =_** Sorry I didn't get this chapter up last night like I thought I would. Time got the better of me and I ended up doing Memorial Day stuff with the family. Anyway...this is it! Did you love the Robbie/Lilette reunion? What was your favorite part of the whole story? Let me know in the reviews!


End file.
